My Chaotic World

Surrogacy journey #3 is underway!

2012-02-13T13:00:00.002-05:00

I am thrilled to be jumping into the world of surrogacy once more. Surrobaby #2 will hopefully be getting a sibling. The parents have 2 frozen embryos left from our last cycle. We hope that at least one can survive the thaw and snuggle into my uterus for 9 months. Both embryos are girls so baby girl would be getting a sister/sisters if this works. The intended parents (IPs) need lots of prayers and good thoughts as my IM is flying to San Francisco on Friday for her initial consultation. I can't wait to begin this journey again with this awesome family and hopefully be birthing a new baby for them around the end of the year!!

Christmas 2011 (a tad bit late, lol)

2012-01-30T09:52:00.003-05:00

The boys in their new jammies on Christmas morning
Hayden (age 8) & Emerson (age 7)

I never got around to posting around Christmas thanks to being too busy. We moved into our new house on 12/23 so things were really hectic. I managed to put up a small tree (our big one was buried somewhere in the garage). We were living out of boxes and the house was a wreck, to say the least. Anyway, I will share this one photo with you guys because all the others involve boxes and random crap in all the backgrounds, lol.

Just in case you haven't followed my blog over the years, we are visited by Santa' elves twice a year. They come on the 1st of December to leave us our new ornaments and then they drop by on Christmas eve to give us our new jammies. We never see the elves in action. They just ring the door bell, leave the goods on the steps, and then they disappear. It's so much fun. We look forward to their visits every year.

Birthday Pancakes

2012-01-29T10:38:00.001-05:00

Birthday pancakes = 1 happy birthday boy!

Recipe: Cake Batter Pancakes

I can't believe my Hayden is now 9 years old. Wow, only one year away from double digits. That's crazy! I made him some birthday cake pancakes this morning and he loved them. Clayton did too. He described them as being like a sugar cookie and I agree (which is exactly why I didn't care for them). Hayden has chosen to go to Afton Tavern for his birthday lunch. My mom and dad are coming up to go with us. I hope he asks for the cookie skillet for dessert because it is sooo dang good.

I have no clue what we will do this evening but it will be something fun. Hope you all had a great weekend!

New Rug and Curtains

2012-01-23T11:49:00.001-05:00

I found this beautiful rug on clearance at Pier 1. The colors really pop against my light carpet. I love it! I ended up getting some beautiful curtains to match but you can only see a smidgen of them in the top photo. I tried to take a good pic of them but they all were washed out due to the sunlight. I will attempt to get a good pic of them at night soon. Now I need to get some pretty throw pillows to tie it all together. :)

BTW-Those round pillow things are where the kiddos sit when they watch Clayton play Xbox.

Pantry Organization

2012-01-22T13:00:00.000-05:00

I learned a quick lesson when we moved in. Four shelves in the pantry is a joke! I have yet to do a grocery game shopping trip (where I majorly stock up on items) so I was shocked how quickly the pantry turned into a junk hole. I don't even store canned food or baking supplies in there (I have cabinet storage on the backside of the island for those items) and yet it still became an insane mess. I went to Lowe's to see what I could do about it and came home with 2 wire shelving units that had 8 shelves each. I knew one would fit perfectly on my left wall and I was hoping to put the second unit on the backside of the door since they can hang from doors. Unfortunately, my door frame can't accommodate the way that the hanger thingies protrude. Oh well. At least I did manage to get one to work for me and it holds a lot of things. I love how easy it is to find oil, baking soda, chocolate chips, etc. I also added 2 plastic drawer cart to the bottom of my pantry. The big one houses my kids' lunch items and snack drawer. The small one stores my onions and potatoes, so far. In the middle of the pantry, I added a bag keeper so that I can reuse them in my waste bins.

I am not totally done with organizing it yet but I am for right now. I have a million and one projects to do so I will come back to this at a later date.

Espresso Cabinet Frustration (For Brooke)

2012-01-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

These scratches are hubby's fault and so he vowed to get me a new drawer front.

2012-01-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

The dings look small in photos but they stand out big time in real life. I know that all cabinets are going to get worn on the bottom due to placing items in/taking items out, but this is only the beginning. I can see that as we start using the kitchen more, these are going to get way worse. The few little dings I have now are only from moving things once or twice thus far. I can't imagine what they will look like after I move things in/out 100 times. I try to be extremely careful now but it is really annoying.

Miss Me?

2012-01-19T08:29:00.004-05:00

The kitchen-we will be getting new rugs, some colored pendant lights, a custom tile backsplash and some decorations for the tops of my cabinets

It has been almost 1 month since we settled on our new house. We moved in on 12/23, just 2 days before Christmas. It has been a whirlwind since then. Time won't slow down, it seems. Anyway, sorry for the long hiatus. It is taking us forever to make this house our home but it's all in fun, right? We have been in Lowe's, Target and Ikea more than I would like to admit. Over the next few weeks, I will start blogging our home's progress. You will have to excuse the blue tape for now as our PM will be coming in to touch up everything soon. I marked everything with the tape so he could easily find dings and marks.

For those of you getting the espresso cabinets and java floors, I can tell you that it is going to drive you nuts. The cabinets show EVERYTHING and the finish comes off rather easily. We are extremely careful with them and they still have scratches and dings now. I may end up distressing them in the future if they get bad enough to warrant it. They stress me and my hubby to death. As for the floors, they scratch and dent easily. I don't understand it. They are hickory, for crying out loud! One cardboard box, that was practically empty, scratched the heck out of one of my planks when it got slid across it. I was very unhappy. I admit that I cried a little, lol. Seriously, hardwood floors should be able to withstand basic operations in the home. I don't get it. The box took off the top layer and left me with a huge light dent in the flooring. My PM said that he thinks that is a fluke but I have seen more scratches and dings that shouldn't have happened. The good news is that the floor is distressed anyway so it won't be hard to hide imperfections, but still, these floors were not cheap and it ticks me off. We now have a "no shoe" policy because I just can't risk damage to my floors.

Our formal china cabinet doesn't fit in the dining room so it is in the morning room for now. I will either get rid of it and get a more casual piece or I will replace the table to a more formal looking one. We will soon get some kind of pretty light fixture to hang from the tall ceiling. I know the picture makes the table look like we didn't center it but it is. I am extremely OCD so it is in the dead center, trust me, lol.

Our hardware-We love it!! Notice how the espresso cabinets actually look brown in this pic. They really aren't black like most pictures show. They are truly a deep brown.

I will be back soon!!!

2012-01-03T08:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been able to jump on here since we moved into the house. We don't have Internet right now and I cannot stand blogging on my iPhone. Our service is supposed to start on 1/5 and then I will finally be able to jump on the laptop again.

Clear for take-off!

2011-12-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

We just got word from our NVR rep that we are set to clear on Friday. Whoo hoo!! I still expect them to bug us about something between now and then though. They seem to have a reputation for that, lol.

So, now I am about to go crazy waiting. In the meantime, we have been searching for cabinet hardware and tile for our kitchen backsplash. Can anyone point me to some good resources for either?

Almost there...

2011-12-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

I am bursting with anticipation this week. Have you noticed my ticker?! We have our final walk-through of the house scheduled for Wednesday morning and then we close on Friday morning. I can't wait to get the keys!! We have movers scheduled for Saturday. Saturday night will be spent with my family in High Point and then Sunday (Christmas) will be spent in our new home. Christmas evening will be at my cousin Christine's, here in Concord. I can't wait!

Ahhhh, those floors---Swoon

2011-12-16T09:45:00.001-05:00

Looking down from the landing on the stairs

Please note that the trim guy hadn't finished the bottom trim on any of the walls. He did it all last night and it now looks completed. I took the photos at lunch.

The formal dining room-I wish we would have upgraded the window wall to jut out. It would have made it an octagonal room. Oh well, I won't complain though. I love it!! (BTW-That weird looking pile outside the windows is our rolls of sod waiting to be put down.)

Love our entryway! The ceiling is so pretty.

I took this pic to show the contrast of the family room carpet and the wood flooring.

Our Combination of Color Choices, Sod, Guest Bath

2011-12-16T09:35:00.001-05:00

This pic shows how our hardwoods, cabinets, appliances and counter look. I love how our choices blend together.

Our sod in the front yard was just starting to be rolled out when I visited yesterday.

Guest shower

Guest flooring

Master Bath

2011-12-16T09:23:00.004-05:00

My tub (it's nestled between our matching sinks)

Love the light tile strip that they used to separate the carpet and tile floor.

Clayton's shower

Looking from the bathroom into the master bedroom (it steps down into it)-the doors on the left and right are our closets

12 Wonderful Years

2011-12-15T09:39:00.001-05:00

My partner in crime (I think this was taken in 1998)

It's hard to believe how fast the years have flown by since marrying the love of my life. We have been through thick and thin together. I cherish every moment of it. It's amazing how so many marriages don't work out in this day and I feel blessed that we have beat those odds. We've been through college days, numerous apartments, 3 states, 3 companies for hubby, 4 houses (the building of the 4th one), 5 cars, 2 children, and 4 surrogacy journeys (2 resulting in babies). We've done it all together. I can't believe how lucky I am to be his partner in life. Thank you God for giving me such a devoted and wonderful husband. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have him by my side.

I am going to make this short since I need to do some things before meeting my man for a hot lunch date. If you want to read our cool and crazy story of how we got together, check out my previous post link: How We Met

Flooring is going in today!!

2011-12-14T16:59:00.000-05:00

I drove by the house after I picked the boys up from school today. To my surprise, I saw 2 vans of flooring installers. The had the hardwoods down for most of the first floor but carpet was just starting throughout the rest of the house. That was at 3pm so I would venture to guess that they will finish up tomorrow. From what I could tell, everything looked great! I would have taken photos but it was a chaotic mess. I could barely see the hardwoods thanks to all the dirty footprints on it. We get to do our official walk-through next Tuesday so I will be sure to get some pics then, if not before.

Argh....

2011-12-14T11:32:00.000-05:00

I went by the house yesterday afternoon with camera in hand for nothing. No flooring was installed nor was it even sitting in my garage. What the heck Rite Rug??? So not amused.

Flooring Update

2011-12-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

We are now scheduled to get our floors installed tomorrow. Yay!! Our awesome PM put the pressure on Rite Rug to get things done. They found our hardwoods in Canada so they got over-nighted here. We're almost done and I am a happy gal!

Flooring Woes

2011-12-10T16:29:00.002-05:00

Friday should have been the day for all of our flooring to go in. Unfortunately, it was not. Instead, I got a call from our PM telling us that the hardwoods that we ordered are back-ordered until January 10th. Ughhhhhhh. What a bummer! The manufacturer makes this particular kind only 3 times a year. They are completely out of it right now. They are trying to locate us some from around the US and even overseas. If they do find some, it will most likely be installed next week. Worst case scenario, we will have to wait for the hardwoods. Ryan Homes will put temporary vinyl flooring down in place of the hardwoods in the meantime. They are still going to move us in during Christmas week so the flooring will not delay things in that respect, thank the Lord.

As far as our carpeting is concerned, our PM decided not to install it Friday. He thinks that it will get stained if it is put in before the hardwoods. The reason being that the hardwoods are all that you would see as you enter the front door. Due to the hardwoods not being down, the floors are all concrete at the entrance. When workers enter, all they would see is that the flooring isn't down yet so they wouldn't remove their muddy boots. It could be that they wouldn't notice the white carpets until they had already walked over them in other rooms. It makes sense to me so now we wait.

Next week, the whole house will be cleaned and spruced up. Painters will be in there to make everything perfect for us. Our sod will be laid and hopefully, we will get our hardwoods/carpet. That's all that's left before we close the following week. I can't wait!!!

Going Stir Crazy

2011-12-08T11:56:00.002-05:00

We are so close to getting our new house now that I am beginning to lose it. I am super anxious. Why? Here's a list:

1-I am sick of running up to our 3rd floor apartment (which is a 1 bedroom to make matters worse).
2-I hate getting wake up calls from my highly vocal neighbor that has "relations" at all hours of the night.
3-I do not like having to defrost the car in the morning since I don't have a garage currently.
4-Fighting for a parking spot in front of our building can be rather annoying.
5-The yard apes (affectionate word for annoying kids) outside yelling and screaming ALL THE TIME makes me cringe. The walls are thin and the kids are obnoxious. Where are the dang parents in this place???

After all that complaining, here are the things I am currently thankful for:

1-I love being close to family. We are going to have an amazing Christmas this year!!
2-My kids are wonderful. They really are good kids and I couldn't ask for better.
3-Clayton is the best husband. No, seriously. I don't know any other guy who would be able to live up to him.
4-We are all healthy, with the exception of my numerous dental woes, of course.
5-Our home is almost ready for us.

I haven't felt like we have had any normalcy since moving here back in late April. Life has been hard with the selling of our house in Colorado, the commuting my hubby had to do the first 3 months, the 2 month stint in the temporary apartment in south Charlotte, the 6 months spent in a 1 bedroom apartment, the moving and storage of all of our belongings (which we cannot access because everything is packed too tight), and numerous other things that I just don't care to mention. It all sounds like a nightmare but really, this was my dream. I never thought that we would ever get to move back home to NC. I am so happy that God has blessed us with this opportunity. It was rather amazing and fast how everything happened to get us to this point. For all of this, I am extremely happy and thankful.

Drive By [12.6.11]-Almost Done!!

2011-12-06T17:11:00.001-05:00

LOVE my new 60/40 sink and granite!

Let me just say that these photos suck and I am well aware of it. I forgot my camera card so I had to use my iPhone. There were workers everywhere so I took my photos rather quickly.

Double ovens-they still have blue plastic on them for protection (BTW-that isn't me in the reflection. I think that is one of the cleaners, lol).

This pic is really horrible but at least you can see how the kitchen is coming together. All of my appliances are in except the gas cook-top. The pendant lights are something that Ryan just started adding to the Dorsey Hall. There will be 2 bar stools underneath them for the kids to eat on the island.

I heard from our PM today and he said that our hardwoods would be going in on Friday. Odds and ends are being done right now like putting the lights, switch plates, chandeliers, and faucets in. There were 2 women cleaning everything today. It's really looking good! Next week will be when they do all of their touch-ups. He said that week will be spent making it a perfect "10". Wow, so I now wonder-Can we possibly close sooner than originally projected??? I know we are put down for 12/23 in the books, but our PM has said that he thinks that it could be sooner by a few days. I sure hope that we can close earlier because that is too close to Christmas. We will have a hard time celebrating in the midst of moving all of our crap in. Oh well, I can't complain. The house will sure be a nice Christmas gift!

December 1st-Traditions, New and Old

2011-12-05T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hayden putting up his ornaments

Every December, we get a visit from the elves on the night of the 1st. The sneaky guys ring our doorbell and then disappear before we can get to the door to catch them in the act. They leave us 4 wrapped ornaments for each of us to add to our tree. This year, Hayden and Emerson got the same set of ornaments. They got a set of elves, Jingle and Jangle, that can hide in the tree like "Where's Waldo?". It's a fun game and they seem to enjoy it. Clayton got a NCSU Wolfie & Mrs. Wolfie ornament. I got a pretty cupcake. I do have pics of everything but I managed to delete them off my computer before I posted today.

Our own elf, Peppy

We started a new tradition this year involving the creepy elf pictured above. He's from "The Elf on the Shelf". He watches the kids everyday to make sure that they are good and then he reports to Santa at the North Pole each night. The boys cannot touch him or he will lose his magic. He has been instructed not to speak to the boys but he can listen to them. When Peppy (the kids named him after Peppermint) arrives back each morning, he relocates himself throughout our place. The kids have a blast trying to find him each morning. Sometimes he gets into mischief. Yesterday, he was found hanging in the blinds.

Clayton's ornament

Clayton reading "The Elf on the Shelf" to the boys (both are holding their new elf ornaments)

Emerson-7, Hayden-8

Drive By [12.4.11]

2011-12-04T16:46:00.001-05:00

We now have columns and shutters. All we need now are the decorative pieces that go over the bottom 2 windows. After those things are done, I expect to see the lawn sodded and that ugly gas tank gone. Wow, it is finally beginning to look like home. :)

It's hard to see the Santa Cecilia granite in this photo thanks to the plastic that they have taped over it. At least we were able to sneak a peek underneath the plastic to see it.

It's gorgeous!!!

This pic gives you a better idea of how the granite ties in with the cabinets. I wish the big part wasn't covered with brown paper but oh well. I will get to see it all together soon enough.

Sorry I have no pics of the tile work throughout the house. Everything that the tile guys did over the weekend is covered up.

Our House

2011-12-04T11:04:00.001-05:00

Our house is really close to being finished. We broke in on Friday night and saw everything. I took pics then but I can get better ones today during the daytime. We now have shutters and columns on the front. The crown molding, chair railing, baseboards, and wainscoting have been installed and painted . Our granite is in and it is gorgeous against our espresso cabinets!! The floors, tubs, and showers have all been tiled. Our appliances were sitting in the family room in boxes. I hope that they are installed now. We shall see...

The Scarboro---A beautiful house at Sugar Mountain

2011-12-02T09:30:00.002-05:00

You can check out the house at: http://www.thescarborohouse.com/

My cousin Christine owns the immaculate mountain house shown above. Amazing, right? It sleeps 17, has huge tvs in every room, a hot tub, a large outdoor fireplace on the top deck off the back, and a game room on the bottom floor (note that we didn't see our kids the entire stay here thanks to this place, lol). For Thanksgiving, we were invited to stay here with them and some of their friends. It was awesome!! We had so much fun hanging out and enjoying the serenity of the mountains. We took a trip up to Grandfather Mountain, roasted marshmallows, celebrated both Thanksgiving and Clayton's birthday, played many games and relaxed. Clayton and I are now considering renting it so that his whole family can fly in from Wyoming and Nebraska to stay in it. They would all love it!

Blue Ridge Mountains

Grandfather Mountain parking lot for the mile high swinging bridge

More Mountain Pics

2011-12-02T09:29:00.001-05:00

Split Rock @ Grandfather Mountain-Emerson and Hayden are up top (and yes, I was panicky-I HATE heights)

Jeff (Christine's husband), the twins-Josh and Aaron (I can't tell who is who but one is on each end of the kiddos), Hayden, Ryan, Clayton and Emerson

The cutie up front is Anna. She is Ryan's sister.

2011-12-02T09:28:00.000-05:00

Clayton standing at the top of Grandfather Mountain

The mile high swinging bridge-Clayton, Jeff, Mark, Lori, and all the kiddos

The told us that the hike up to the bridge was only .4 miles but they neglected to tell us how difficult the terrain is. Several of us fell (including klutzy me, lol).

Playing spoons-it got fierce! From left to right: my cousin Sheila, cousin Rachel (Sheila's daughter), Lori, cousin Christine and Erica. The green sleeve belongs to cousin Ashley (Christine's daughter).

Tray Ceilings, Race Cars, and Tequila?

2011-11-30T07:19:00.000-05:00

Tray ceiling in model home-crown molding is raised to top of tray

The master bedroom tray ceiling in our home-crown molding is dropped to bottom of tray

When we had our pre-construction meeting, our PM told us he would like to change the molding in our bedroom. He described it to me but I couldn't picture it. I googled it on my iPhone and found an example. It didn't look right to me (it was a bad photo) so I told him to raise it back up like the model home has. Once I got home, I searched for more examples and I found better photos of the lowered crown molding. After that, I decided to go with his original plan. We had them install an outlet behind the molding so that we can run rope light behind the trim. It's going to be connected to a switch so we can easily turn it off and on. I love how the lowered molding gives the tray more dimension.

Gentlemen, start your engines! Yes, that is Charlotte Motor Speedway. Sorry the photo sucks but I only have my little camera right now. This is the view from the windows surrounding my bath tub on the second floor. I can't believe how close we are to the track. Considering how well we can hear the race cars here at Concord Mills (our apartment is beside CM), we will definitely be able to hear the ruckus from our house since it is closer.

Do you see the interesting thing about this photo? We checked out our house last Sunday and saw that huge empty bottle of tequila in my boys' bathroom. Odd, huh? Our PM drilled all the workers from that weekend to try to find out who drank it but no one fessed up, of course. He was fairly angry but I told him not to worry about it. The house looks amazing. If my tiles start to pop off the walls because the workers were drunk and installed them incorrectly, then we would have a problem. He checked to make sure everything was straight just in case they were too intoxicated to do so and all was well, lol.

Our Future Mortgage---A Phenomenal Rate!

2011-11-30T00:12:00.000-05:00

We officially locked our rate a week ago at an amazing 3.75%. How awesome is that?! It's for a 30 year fixed loan. We were thrilled in 2008 to refinance our Colorado house to 5.25%. Back then, that was good. The rates right now are really hitting bottom. I am so glad that we didn't have to lock back during summer because it was around 4.5%. It's crazy how the rate can drastically change over a short amount of time.

Tile Work Preview

2011-11-29T07:04:00.003-05:00

Master shower

Master tub-there is a lot left for the tile guy to finish. The windows will eventually get sills and the floor will be tiled.

Closeup of the tiles

2011-11-29T07:02:00.004-05:00

Downstairs guest suite shower-it is missing the tile shelf in the corner

Closeup of the tiles-the blue ones are glass and really pretty in person

The boys' bath is white tile. That tub better not ever get that filthy after we move in. :P

Hubby's Birthday Dinner [11/26/11]

2011-11-28T21:45:00.000-05:00

We spent Thanksgiving and Clayton's birthday in Banner Elk, NC. My cousin owns a humongous house up there that sleeps 17. It was a full house and every bedroom was filled. We had a fun time with Christine's family, her friends, and my cousins Sheila (Christine's sister) and Rachel (Sheila's daughter). Since we didn't have our house yet, I gave up my yearly tradition of hosting Thanksgiving this time around. It was totally worth it.

To celebrate Clayton's 35th birthday, Christine made him his favorite dinner (meatloaf) and an orange pumpkin spice cake. How sweet is that?!

Cousin Christine (she started singing as she was carrying the cake over to CJ)

Clayton was uber embarrassed thanks to everyone singing Happy Birthday, lol.

Cousin Jake is the boss (Christine's son). This photo cracks me up!

Kitchen Cabinets

2011-11-28T06:06:00.001-05:00

Emerson was checking out the hole where the double ovens will go.

I was happily surprised to see our cabinets yesterday. The color is called 'espresso'. They are supposed to be a really dark brown but I would personally say that they are black. I love them! I can't wait to see them with the Santa Cecilia granite that we chose.

I look forward to using all that valuable real estate on the island to cook and bake. :)

Drive By {11.27.11}---Stone is complete!

2011-11-27T18:45:00.000-05:00

While we were away in the mountains for Thanksgiving, the house continued to take shape. My wonderful new neighbor, Jessica, sent me a pic via Facebook so that I could see the new stone front. I was so excited after seeing it that I couldn't wait to see it in person today. All that needs to be done to the outside now is the shutters, the decorative trim over the bottom 2 windows on the front, and the 4 columns on the front porch.

For the inside, I was hopeful that the cabinets would be in and guess what? They were! Much to our surprise, the tile in all 3 bathrooms was almost completed too. The tile has bits and pieces that still need to be filled in, but the majority is done. I will post many photos this week to show you how everything is looking so far. We love all the options that we have chosen. :)

Happy Birthday Hubby!

2011-11-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

Today is Clayton's 35th birthday and we are celebrating it in the mountains. He now has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and the new anniversary edition of Halo to keep himself busy. It's a good thing we brought the Xbox with us. ;)

My cousin Christine is making Clayton his favorite meal tonight (meatloaf with buttered egg noodles) and she is also making him an orange pumpkin cake. Yum!!

Emerson playing at Grandma's [11.13.11]

2011-11-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

Rock and Roll [11.22.11]

2011-11-22T10:07:00.001-05:00

The color of our house is very different from this photo. I think the morning sunlight skewed it. It looks tan on here but I assure you that it is more of a gray color (called silver light). Anyway, all of the siding and trim has been completed. Today, the stone will be added to the part that is blacked out. It will also cover the gray blocks on the bottom. I hope that they complete it today so I can get a photo this evening.

Driveway and Drywall [11.20.11]

2011-11-21T07:46:00.001-05:00

Our driveway, sidewalk and patio got poured over the weekend. I was hoping to etch our name and year into it but missed the opportunity. We also had locks put on our doors. It is early to get the locks but we have good reason. On Saturday night, we visited the house at 8pm to find 2 men inside. They were not construction workers. I busted in and asked why they were in my house. They told me that they were door-to-door salesman and they were there to keep warm while waiting for their ride. They had no sales stuff with them and they did not apologize nor attempt to leave. I was pissed. Their attitude was as if they owned the place. I flat out told them to get out of my house and they didn't. We went and looked around the house anyway and then I mentioned calling the police to my hubby. That's when they went out the front door. I reported the riff raff to my sales rep and my PM. It could have been innocent but a house in another neighborhood had all its wiring removed while another had a fridge stolen. New construction tends to bring about curious people who think that they can just take whatever they want. Ugh.....

the stairs will be dark hardwood

Clayton checking out the morning room

tray ceiling in the master

Drive by [11/17/11]

2011-11-17T16:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no photos today. It was just too dang muddy and my kids had to sit in the car. I had to make my walk-through as brief as possible. Surprisingly, I found out that we now have walls. Yay!! All of the drywall has been put up. There were lots of large buckets of putty in the scrapbook room so I know that they will likely start on that task tomorrow. Our driveway and patio have been put on hold thanks to the recent rain. The stone for the front of the house was sitting in the side yard. That will go up on Monday.

I will get some pics next week of the rock and hopefully some of the inside. :)

Ahhhh, the views!!

2011-11-16T06:07:00.003-05:00

The view from the morning room

Our master bedroom windows on the second floor

We love all the trees and landscaping around our lot. It's going to be nice not seeing the side of a neighbor's house as our view. The house in Colorado was terrible for that. I don't have a photo of it, but you can see Charlotte Motor Speedway and the skyline of downtown Charlotte from the master bathroom. Crazy, huh?

Our PM (project manager) emailed me yesterday to say that the insulation is now in. Our driveway and patio will be poured tomorrow, as long as the weather is good. Drywall will also begin tomorrow. The stone will be put on the front of the house on Monday. Yay!! Everything is moving right along. :)

Emerson's 7th Birthday [11.8.11]

2011-11-15T08:18:00.027-05:00

We don't have a house (yet!) so we chose not to have a birthday party for E (Hayden won't be having one in January either, just to be fair). Instead, we took him to his restaurant of choice with my parents. He chose Friday's. He opened all of his gifts there and then he picked worms in dirt as his dessert. I really wish I could have baked him a monster cake but all of my cake supplies are somewhere buried within the depths of our storage unit. Anyway, Emerson loved his gifts. He got an Under Armor sweatshirt like his Dad's, Sorry Sliders, Uno Roboto, Pokemon figures, money, Spongebob Legos, a Perplexus ball, an Angry Birds game, a dry-erase board with lots of markers (he specifically asked for that), and several new mans (he calls all action figures "mans", cute huh?).

Being silly-He sooo didn't want his pic taken and we were obviously torturing him, lol.

Making a wish

Drive By [11.12.11]

2011-11-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

We drove by early that morning so I am sure that the siding was finished yesterday afternoon. I will drive by later today to see. :)

Awesome News :) :) :)

2011-11-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas present this year is going to be H-U-G-E. I just got word from our project manager that we are set to close on our house December 22nd!! I am beyond ecstatic!

We had our pre-drywall meeting today and everything looks awesome. The siding goes up tomorrow, the insulation goes in this Saturday, drywall goes in starting on Tuesday, and the patio/driveway/sidewalk gets poured on Thursday. The drywall will take 7 days to complete and then the cabinets will be installed on the day after the drywall is finished. After all that is done, they will start to install all the fixtures and small pieces.

This Boy...

2011-11-08T15:10:00.002-05:00

rocks my world :)

Today, I am now the mother to a 7 year old and an 8 year old. That doesn't sound right. Weren't they just 3 and 4? Geez, time sure does fly. Emerson (or Big E as we like to call him) celebrates his birthday today as a 7 year old. Since the boys were out of school today for election day, we went out for breakfast. E chose Waffle House. He adores their cheesy eggs. Tonight, Grandma Ronda and Grandpa Bobby will be joining us for dinner and go-carts. We tried to let E pick the restaurant but he wanted Rock Bottom Brewery (Clayton is so proud of that, lol) and there isn't one close by here. His second choice was Bone Fish Grille (I was proud of that one!) but again, there isn't one nearby. I think we have settled on On The Border but who knows where we will end up. Regardless, we will have some fun afterwards. I think we should go to the Nascar Speedpark to ride go-carts or maybe to Dave & Buster's. We'll let him decide.

Drive By [11.7.11]

2011-11-07T19:39:00.038-05:00

This is the morning room off the back of the house (I adore those windows!).

Things are beginning to come together at the home site. I saw 2 large trucks of men there today working on the heating/air conditioning. There were also guys on the roof working on the soffits (our shingles were completed yesterday). We have an appointment with our awesome project manager on Wednesday for a pre-drywall meeting. I would have to assume that drywall is the next big step that they are going to tackle. I can't wait to show you guys inside the house. :)

Speaking of inside the house, we took the boys in for the time last Saturday night. It was dark so I used a flashlight app on my iPhone. We showed them their rooms and the playroom. They were so excited! This house is going to be so special. We picked every little detail about it and we saw the lot start off as a field. This experience has been incredible, to say the least.

This is the biggest benefit of our lot. See that rock wall? We are nestled right behind it. I love it!!

House Updates

2011-11-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't taken pics over the past 2 days but I can tell you that the house is coming along fabulously. Yesterday, we had the plumbers complete their work inside and the morning room was finished (I will have to post a photo of it soon-it has a beautiful window in it that I adore). The roof also got covered with black paper. Today, we met with Guardian and marked where we wanted the surround system installed. We chose to put everything in the bonus room on the second floor. That's where we will hook up the Xbox and Wii. We will eventually get a monster TV for in there. It's going to be awesome! I can see us all hanging out in there to watch movies and play games. We will probably only use the family room downstairs on rare occasions or when we have guests over.

Seeing the inside of the house was so exciting!! It was easy to see how everything fits. I can't wait to move in. :)

Drive by [11/2/11]

2011-11-02T16:36:00.002-04:00

We now have a roof!

The house is really coming along now. I love driving by and seeing it progress. One good reason for that is I caught a mistake today. In our garage, there were 2 shower/bath inserts-one for the guest bath and the other for the boys' bath. We aren't supposed to be getting those. All of our showers and baths are going to be tiled so I knew that was wrong. Our tub was lifted overhead and placed in the master earlier today (according to a neighbor), so I assume that they put a shower insert into the master also. Ugh. Now they are going to have to rip those out this evening because the plumbing is supposed to be completed tomorrow. It's a good thing I noticed that. I almost left before I saw them. :P

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T07:34:00.000-04:00

Hayden as Link from the game Zelda (his wig is really out of place, lol) and Emerson as Jason.
We went trick-or-treating in our soon-to-be neighborhood. Clayton fashioned their costumes for them.

My little Link

Emerson was thrilled to have a bloody weapon to carry, lol. Yes, we know it is demonic. This kid is a quiet, laid-back kind of guy so he isn't like the hellion that he portrays. He always picks something scary to be and we find it hilarious considering his personality. And no, he doesn't even know who Jason is nor does he know the Scream guy that he dressed up as last year.

Drive-by [11.1.11]

2011-11-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

The windows and the front door were added today. :)

Moving Right Along [10.31.11]

2011-10-31T21:02:00.001-04:00

Our second floor got framed today. I wish I would have gotten a pic of the house before they wrapped it with plastic, but oh well. I am so excited!!

This shows you how our lot is configured. We chose lot #445 for privacy. We will only have to deal with one neighbor being close to us and that is fabulous. Everything should work out great as long as #444 doesn't have loud, obnoxious kids or a yappy dog. Our lot looks small on the drawing but it is actually not. All of these lots are quite spacious. Ours is just smaller than the rest. We are already dreading how much yard we will have to take care of. It is almost twice the size of our last yard in Colorado. I am so glad we aren't on #441. We hate big yards and the work that goes with it.

Drive-by [10.31.11]

2011-10-31T16:12:00.000-04:00

The second floor is framed!! Unfortunately, I don't have proof since I left my camera card in my laptop and my iPhone on the charger back in the apartment. Sigh.... I will try to get a photo tonight before we trick-or-treat.

Well, Lookie Here... [10/28/11]

2011-10-28T21:29:00.001-04:00

We suddenly have the ground floor framed! I am beyond excited!!

Drive-by [10.27.11]

2011-10-27T16:37:00.002-04:00

Look what came today!!

Our builder pieced together the walls and trusses off-site in a temperature controlled warehouse before it got dropped off at our lot. Now we just need someone to put the puzzle together and it will start to actually look like a house!

Hayden waving to me from the middle of the slab

The boys running around and goofing off on the slab

Drive-by [10.27.11]-part 2

2011-10-27T16:30:00.002-04:00

Front porch

Garage

Drive By-10/26/11

2011-10-26T17:15:00.001-04:00

The cement truck was at our lot today. We now have a slab!!

House Options

2011-10-24T06:52:00.003-04:00

I love the hardwoods, granite and cabinets we chose. :)

We visited the design center for our builder yesterday. It took us 2.5 hours to choose everything and it was a lot of fun. The hardwood flooring will be throughout the majority of the first floor. It is hickory that is stained really dark Java. I love all the grooves and scraping in it. It makes me think of Pottery Barn. I adore it and so does Clayton. The cabinets look almost black but they are really a very dark brown called Espresso. The granite is Santa Cecilia and it will help contrast the dark floors and cabinets. I can't wait to see this combination together. It's going to be fabulous!!

This is going to be in the master bath. Clayton chose everything and I think he did a great job. It will definitely be masculine looking. The walls, shower and tub will all be tiled with the big brown ones. The decorative tiles will surround everything. The photo shows a soap dish but it will actually be a corner shelf instead. We never use bar soap so the shelf will be of more use to us.

This pic shows the type of maple cabinets we will have in the master bath.

House Options-Part 2

2011-10-24T06:51:00.004-04:00

I chose the guest bathroom on the first floor. I fell in love with the beautiful blue glass tiles in this set. The bathroom will have a spa feeling. The floor and shower will be tiled with the big tiles shown (they are lighter in real life). The decorative tile will go across the upper portion of the shower walls. Once again, we chose a corner shelf instead of a soap dish since we use liquid soap.

This picture is terrible. Both carpets are frieze. The bottom carpet is supposed to be a beautiful off-white color that will be in the family room, scrapbook room and guest suite (all on the first floor). The carpet behind it is what I chose for the top floor. It is a neutral mix of colors. I chose it because it won't show dirt and spills as bad. The kids will be on that carpet the majority of their childhood so I would prefer not to see the wear and tear as easily. It will be in all 4 of the upstairs bedrooms, hallway, and the bonus room.

We opted not to upgrade the boys' bathroom to floor tile but they will get a white tiled bathtub/shower. The cabinets are going to be maple and the flooring will be linoleum.

This linoleum is what we chose for the laundry room on the second floor.

Sunday Drive-By----10/23/11

2011-10-23T15:02:00.003-04:00

The garage

The front porch and right side of the house

The front porch and left side of the house (garage is far left)

View from the farthest point in the back yard

Sunday---continued

2011-10-23T14:59:00.000-04:00

The back of the house

The morning room on the back of the house

Our messy backyard

I can't believe how deep our backyard is. It goes all the way out to the plastic fence barrier.

Surrogacy #3 Update

2011-10-23T06:37:00.001-04:00

Everyone keeps asking about surrogacy #3. Well, I have great news. My IM is going in for her initial consult in January. Providing that everything goes smoothly, we are looking at a transfer around March 2012. There are 2 frozen embryos from the last cycle that we hope will work. They are both girls so surrobaby #2 would be getting a little sister or sisters. I can't wait to begin all the crazy drugs and getting things cooking. :)

Scentsy

2011-10-22T06:16:00.000-04:00

2 of the new holiday warmers from Scentsy-Aren't they cute?!

I have always been a fan of Scentsy products so I finally bit the bullet and jumped on board as a consultant. I really don't care to make it my career so I am not out to hound people to buy this stuff. If you are interested in having a party, I would love to help. If you want to buy product directly, you can visit my online site and have everything shipped right to your door. If you do decide to order, please choose to add your order to my open house that is listed on the site. It really would help me out. If you have no idea what Scentsy is, feel free to ask me questions or see for yourself on my site- My Scentsy Site. Basically, they sell these pretty decorative warmers that melt scented wax at low temperatures. The scents are amazing!! I am particularly fond of Camu Camu and Snowberry. Those are my 2 favorites. I have never been a fan of candles but I adore Scentsy!

Drive-by-----10/21/11

2011-10-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

I drove by the lot today and saw lots of worker mans (as Emerson would say). It looks like they are going to start getting down to business.

Development

2011-10-21T07:06:00.001-04:00

I drove by the lot on this day to find it had been graded. 10/14

Our Future Home [10.11.11]

2011-10-20T07:22:00.055-04:00

The lot we chose

Our lot is the first one on the right as you enter the back entrance to the neighborhood. There will be no one across from it, only one house beside it and no one directly behind it. This lot will be fabulous! Our house in CO felt like a fish bowl since we were in a row of houses that were back-to-back with another row of houses. I will never choose a lot like that again. We had no privacy whatsoever.

This is looking towards the front from the very back of the lot. Christine's Denali (monster Suburban) can be seen out in the distance and it helps give you an idea of how long the lot is.

The back corner-The other backyards meet up here so that no house will be directly behind this one.

More Lot Pics

2011-10-20T07:21:00.018-04:00

Standing at the back of the lot, looking to the left side

Back-side of neighborhood wall

Front-side of neighborhood wall, entrance into development

Back entry into the neighborhood, our lot is the first one on the right

So I have a concussion...

2011-10-19T07:13:00.001-04:00

It doesn't look like I am the only one, lol. Poor Emerson was so tired after school. He fell asleep like this during my visit with the doctor. Seriously, how can he sleep like that?

Last Thursday, I hit my head which resulted in a concussion. I was bending over to pet Christine's dog, Rocky, in the kitchen. He started to jump and lick my face so I jerked my head up to avoid his death breath. When I did that, I hit the corner of the kitchen island with the back of my head. It hurt so bad. I iced it really well and took some Motrin to ease the pain. All was fine that night but things got worse over the weekend. I started having horrible headaches, my vision got noticeably weaker, and my stomach would occasionally get nauseous. I knew something was up but I decided to hold out until Monday. I felt fine that morning but the headache kicked in that afternoon. On the way to get the boys from school, I decided that I should go see a doctor on my way home. I am so glad I did! She diagnosed me with a concussion after asking lots of questions and doing neurological testing on me. I got a couple prescriptions and was ordered to take it easy for the next week. The pain med she gave me has taken all of my pain away but it makes me a bit woozy and the muscle relaxer makes me incredibly sleepy. I hate the side effects but it is nice not having to deal with the awful headaches.

Franken-Hayden (10/13/11)

2011-10-18T18:58:00.000-04:00

I kept my cousin's twin boys last week and stayed in her house. It was kinda nice to pretend to be homeowners again, lol. My boys and her boys get along really well so they opted to sleep 2 boys to each room every night. Hayden was goofing around with his cousin Aaron when he got pushed off the bed. He ended up hitting one of the bed posts. Clayton and I had just gotten into the hot tub outside when Josh ran out the door to tell us that Hayden was bleeding from his head. We were panicked. Clayton ran to check him out while I grabbed medical supplies and pain medicine. He had a nice gash on his forehead. I wasn't sure if he needed stitches so I texted a photo to my sister-in-law Stephanie and my cousin Christine (they are both nurses). Both agreed that we needed to take him to a doctor. Unfortunately, it was after 10pm and most urgent care places were closed. I tried to get to one in Huntersville but it had just closed at 11pm. I got there at 11:04pm.

We ended up going to the ER at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast. The waiting room was full of people but we didn't have to wait very long. The doctor and nurse that he had were phenomenal! They kept him calm and distracted throughout the whole ordeal. He did so good. After Hayden was all stitched up (a total of 3 stitches), he was discharged rather quickly. We got home just after 2am. I can't say enough about what a great experience we had there. I highly recommend that hospital.

H looks so cute with his wound. He didn't want me to remove the stitches tonight but it needed to be done. Hopefully he will make it through childhood without needing any more.

SOLD!!!!

2011-10-17T12:27:00.001-04:00

After 5 months of worrying, the Colorado house finally closed this past Friday. We are ecstatic!! It is wonderful to finally be done with that chapter of our lives. We didn't have to be at the closing thanks to the relocation company being there on our behalf. It is a little bittersweet though since we will miss our awesome neighbors and nearby family. I will just be glad to not ever have to slide down that iced-over driveway ever again. :P

I have many updates to tell you all about (surrogacy, becoming a Scentsy consultant, Hayden's stitches, I got a new job, etc.) but I don't have time right now. I will post more this week.

Lake Day-9/10/2011

2011-10-14T10:00:00.001-04:00

I am in the process of cleaning up my camera cards and these pics are from last month. Better late than never, right?

We went to Lake Jordan with our besties, the Barnes'. Jason bought a new tube for us to play on and it was a hit. It was a perfect day out on the water. :)

Jason and Clayton pushing the boat out of the deep sand

We had a few funny mishaps that day. Jason threw in the anchor using the rope but then quickly realized that the rope wasn't tied to anything, lol. It fell to the bottom before Jason could retrieve it (he jumped in after it). Clayton drove the boat at one point while Jason skied behind. Well, the water was low in the lake so he ended up hitting a patch of sand. It immediately stopped the boat. All I saw was Natascha hanging on for dear life as she was almost tossed from the front of the boat. It was scary when it happened but now we all laugh about our Griswold adventure at the lake.

New Belgium Brewing Company-Fort Collins, CO

2011-10-07T10:50:00.000-04:00

Clayton and his sister, Stephanie

We flew back to CO on 10/1 to see the movers pack up our house. Since we had never done the New Belgium Brewing Company tour, we decided to try and fit it into our schedule before we left. Stephanie came down from Wyoming to join us on Wednesday (10/5). We had a few beers and then took the tour, which was awesome!! They showed us around their amazing facility and gave us many samples of the beers to try. I can't believe how cool it was. If you are ever in Fort Collins, be sure to stop in. You won't regret it. At the end of the tour, you get to slide down a metal twisty slide (which is crazy when you are intoxicated, lol).

The beers on the left are Hoptober (my personal fave) and the one on the right is a special edition Hefe that was my second favorite beer of the day.

New Belgium-Part 2

2011-10-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

These bottles of Fat Tire were only 20 minutes old. They came straight off of the bottling line. How cool is that?!

Bottling area (we were looking down through a second floor window)

This was our awesome tour guide. I can't remember his name but he was fabulous. He made the tour a lot of fun. :)

Planet Box

2011-09-30T09:06:00.000-04:00

I have an addiction to lunch boxes. Don't ask me why but I love to buy them. The Planet Box is something that I have been watching for years on the internet but I just never could pay such a steep price for them. Well, this year I just had to. And guess what? I LOVE them!! I was so afraid that I would spend all that money and feel like I wasted it. They are sturdy metal and clasp shut with a clip that even a toddler can undo. I always worry about my kids opening plastic containers and spilling their lunch all over themselves in the process. With these, I never have to worry about that. They are dishwasher safe (which is a MUST for me-I refuse to hand wash anything, lol). The lunch bag is designed to hold the metal box perfectly. It allows everything to fold out flat which would be great for car trips since they could hold it on their laps easily. If you are interested in learning more, you can check them out at Planet Box. You can only buy them directly from their website or from Pottery Barn (which you can't customize as much there). I am in no way affiliated with Planet Box nor am I being compensated to blog about them. I just really love this product!

Your kids can choose from a variety of magnets to personalize their boxes. Emerson chose the space theme and Hayden chose the modern art theme.

I wish I had a couple more of these for myself and Clayton or so that I could pack up another day's worth of their lunches in advance but Clayton has already put the kabosh on that. :P

Wildcat Night at the Local Skating Rink

2011-09-24T09:44:00.000-04:00

The boys' school had a skate night last Tuesday. I was bummed because I couldn't skate. A little known fact about me is that I am quite good at it. I am one of those geeks that can turn around and I skate better backwards than forward. Anyway, I have apparently busted my knees from running so skating was out of the question. I was sad but the kiddos had a fun time. Emerson started off slow and got better by the end of the night. Hayden started off fast without caring how many times he fell. By the end of the night, he was whiny from hurting himself so much, lol. I can't wait for next month's skate night as I plan to be rehabilitated enough to participate, dang it!

These Floors---Swoon

2011-09-22T19:55:00.001-04:00

This is not our house. This is a spec home we toured that had beautiful dark hardwood floors. We fell in love with them and I have to say that this pic does them no justice. They are deep java brown and have no shine. There is lots of distressing (which isn't visible in the pic) and the planks are 5" wide (which is hard to distinguish in this pics also). They look like something straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog. We would have bought this small house that didn't fit our needs just to get that gorgeous flooring. Thank the Lord that our builder offers it as a upgrade in the house that we are likely going to build. We visited the design center yesterday just to see what options they had. After seeing this flooring, we knew we had to have them. I would give up all the other upgrades for these floors. They are that fabulous. Luckily, the upgrade to them wasn't too bad so we are planning to roll with it. :)

So far...

2011-09-19T17:47:00.003-04:00

Model Home-"Dorsey Hall"

We have decided to go with building this house. I don't love this elevation though so it will likely have a fully bricked front and a cool roof line rather than this one. I don't know. The inside of this home is amazing and we haven't been able to find anything to rival it at its price point. We did find homes better but they were a lot more money and less square footage. What made it a pain to choose was because the more expensive homes are districted for the best schools in the county. I hope that the school in this development's district will be okay. We currently have the kiddos there now to try it out ahead of time (the apartment we are in is actually districted for the really amazing schools, sigh...).

Progress, maybe...

2011-09-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

We may or may not have sold our house last night. Considering the way things went back in July (our house sold but then had to return to the market 2 weeks later because the buyer's loan fell through), we aren't jumping up and down just yet. We have our guards up. Last time, we jumped for joy and immediately joined the country club here in Concord. Big mistake. We won't do that again. We will wait and see that everything is going to work out before we get excited. The good news is that these buyers put down more earnest money than necessary and they have a rather large down payment. It looks great but I am still very cautious. If our house does indeed sell this time, the closing date is currently set for 9/14. I have said many prayers and crossed all my fingers/toes that this time it's for real.

Chimney Rock, NC

2011-09-08T23:36:00.000-04:00

Tracy and Addison

Last month, the boys and I headed up to the mountains to spend some time with Tracy. Tracy was my best friend when I lived up in Hendersonville (near Asheville). Hayden and her boy Austin are close in age and spent most of their early childhood together before we moved out to Colorado. We had a blast revisiting. I got to meet her cute daughter Addison for the first time. She was born one month after we moved so I never got to see her. She's now 4 years old. Time sure does fly! Anyway, it was like old times. We ate lots of good food (Papa's & Beer and The Fireside are 2 of my faves) and goofed off a lot. One day we headed out to Chimney Rock to mine for gems and to wade in the river. I wish I had my regular camera with me but all I had was the iPhone.

Hayden

Emerson

Chimney Rock, NC-continued

2011-09-08T23:24:00.001-04:00

Austin and Hayden

The guy in the corner would never move. He insisted on being in my pics, lol.

Random pics from the end of April

2011-09-08T13:32:00.000-04:00

Hayden's last day of 2nd grade with Mrs. Nelson (this was the last day we spent in Colorado)

Road trip to NC (Topeka, Kansas)

Awesome brewery in Topeka that we stopped at

Finally Back Online!

2011-09-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

We are still sitting in an apartment while we wait for our house in Colorado to sell. It has been a nightmare. Our house supposedly sold back on 7/29 but then the buyer's loan fell through 2 weeks later. As a result, we have been stuck in limbo land. We can't buy or build until that house is sold. Money is becoming an issue since we have to still pay the mortgage and utilities for CO while paying rent and utilities for our apartment here in NC. On top of that, we have paid some money out to reserve our lot to build (if we end up going that route). I have tried to get a job to help pay some bills but nothing has worked out. Everything seems to be a big halt at the moment. So that's what has been going on. Sorry for my absence here on the ole blog. We didn't want to shell out the money for cable internet until we got a house but we broke down this past week. I just couldn't deal with watching Netflix and Facebooking via my iPhone any longer. 3G isn't good enough for all my techie entertainment, lol. BTW, all of our stuff is still in CO so we didn't even have a tv to run movies on (I used my laptop or my iPhone). Suffice it to say, it has been rather dull around here.

Anyway, I plan to return to blogging now that I have glorious wifi once again! Hope everyone hasn't left me.

Father's Day Weekend-2011

2011-07-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

Clayton with the doggies, Duey and Basil

We spent Father's Day weekend in Raleigh with our besties, the Barnes'. I let Clayton open his gift early on Saturday in case he got to go golfing that evening. The boys and I got him an awesome pair of golf shoes. Unfortunately, they were too nice. He ended up exchanging them at an Ecco store in Myrtle Beach for a pair that looked more like street shoes. The best part of that transaction was that I got a pair too. The store was having a buy one, get one pair 1/2 off sale. So for the price of the pair he originally had, we both got a pair. :)

Jason and Natascha have a boat so we spent that Saturday out on Lake Jordan. It was a blast! The sun was hot so we all got in the water to cool down.

Big E and Hayden

Jasmine and Hayden

2011-07-22T13:11:00.000-04:00

Hayden

Emerson and Clayton

Clayton

Jason

Walking home after school (Colorado)

2011-07-18T11:52:00.000-04:00

I sure will miss living so close to their school.

Pictures for my kids' sake

2011-07-18T11:48:00.000-04:00

The view of the Rockies from the main entrance into Pioneer Ridge

Before we left Colorado, I drove around our neighborhood and took pics so that my kids wouldn't forget their former surroundings. I took pics from the entry to our neighborhood, past the school and the turn onto our street. It was the same path that I took on a daily basis for the past 4 years. It may have felt routine at the time but eventually I know it will be forgotten, thus the photos. I have a lot more photos than this but here are a few.

The view just before you get to the school

My kiddos' elementary school

Our street sign as you round the curve

Bad Blogger

2011-07-16T20:40:00.002-04:00

While I am sorry I haven't posted anything on here in a long time, I am glad that I have been too busy to do so. We have been everywhere since arriving in NC. Life has been moving way too fast. Many weeks have been spent with our besties the Barnes', my aunt and uncle, my parents, and my cousin Christine and her family. It's been such a blessing. The boys love being here and so do we. From backyard barbecues and swimming in pools to boating on the lake and playing at the beach, we are so happy to be back. I have too many photos to update my blog appropriately, so I am just going to upload random things from my camera and my iPhone for you all to see. It will likely be out of order but I don't have the time to sort it all out.

Even though I haven't been blogging lately, I still Facebook like a pro. If you want to keep up with little ole me and my family, FB is where you will find us most of the time. Feel free to friend request me if you haven't already done so. :)

Myrtle Beach 6/25-7/2/11

2011-07-16T08:57:00.002-04:00

Clayton's company told us to take vacation early on since they would likely need him throughout the rest of the year (since they are starting up a new machine in Concord and they haven't hired hardly anyone to run it yet). The Barnes' and us decided to head to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week. We got a condo in Barefoot Landing, thanks to Natascha. Jason's twin sister, Mandy, and her husband Mark, joined us for the second half of the trip and we had a fabulous time. We played on the beach, swam in the pool, ate lots of good food, and shopped quite a bit.

Mark teaching Hayden to play the tuba

2011-07-16T08:45:00.000-04:00

2011-07-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

Hayden

Broadway at the Beach

Captain Sullenberger's Plane-Flight 1549

2011-06-16T09:10:00.002-04:00

As my cousins and I were heading up to Boone last Friday, we saw tons of people standing all around highway 77. We couldn't figure out what the heck was going on so we stopped on an overpass and asked one of the spectators. He explained that the plane that went down into the Hudson River in NY would be going through there soon. We drove on and eventually passed it. How cool is that?! It was on the way to an aviation museum in Charlotte. Here is an interesting article in the Charlotte Observer about it: link

Road Trip

2011-04-30T07:04:00.028-04:00

We are making the long trek from Colorado to North Carolina today. It's going to take 3 days according to the way we have the trip mapped out. I hate riding in the car for very long so this is going to be sheer torture. Why are we driving when we could be flying? That is a good question. Clayton's company pays for everything including plane tickets for all of us but yet here we are driving. Blah. CJ wanted an easy way to bring his golf clubs and Xbox 360 so now he gets his wish. Heck, I should have flown with the kids while he drove. That would have been a better plan.

We haven't sold the house in Colorado so we can't buy our next one yet. We are moving into a company owned apartment in a nice area of Charlotte. It is fully furnished and we don't have to worry about anything. It will be nice but I can't imagine living in an apartment again. I can't stand noise from neighbors (crying babies, loud music, barking dogs, etc.) so this may lead me to intruding on my family in High Point, lol. While staying in this area of Charlotte, we are going to be really close to Carowinds (huge amusement park with lots of roller coasters and a water park) so I plan to buy us season passes so that me and the boys can play all summer.

Wish us luck. I will try to update whenever I can.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-29T07:01:00.001-04:00

We headed out to Sidney, Nebraska to spend Easter with Steve, Sandy, Virgie and Bea. On our way, we picked up Stephanie in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We brought along an egg dying kit to decorate 2 dozen eggs. We ate way too much while there. Sandy made all kinds of goodies and we overindulged. I wish I could have more ham and brisket now. Just thinking about it makes me drool, lol. Have I ever mentioned how much I love holiday feasts?

Aunt Steph helping the boys

It's All Relative

2011-04-28T10:38:00.001-04:00

My Cousin Sheila and Aunt Judy came to visit last week. We had a blast catching up. They helped me keep my house spotless for showings while they were here. The pics I took were at JB's in Greeley. I knew Judy would get a kick out of it. It's an old restaurant that looks like you stepped back into the 70's. Dark brown paneling with carpet on the walls, orange pleather seats, telephone ordering and car hops outside make it an interesting place, to say the least, lol.

Sorry these pics aren't the best. I took them with my iPhone.

Clayton ordering us up some grub

A Walking Tour of Our Home (for posterity's sake)

2011-04-15T13:21:00.001-04:00

For the most part, we have really enjoyed our house here in Colorado. Oh, did I forget to mention that we are moving back to NC? Sorry, I haven't updated my blog in so long but yes, we are moving! The house goes up on the market tomorrow. I hope it sells quickly but I know the reality of today's market. Couple that with the fact that the builder is still building in my neighborhood and it makes it even harder to sell. Oh well, I am going to pretend that I don't know that and maybe a miracle will happen. Our previous two homes sold in under a month and I would give anything for that to happen again. So anyway, the realtor's photographer came out yesterday to take our MLS photos so my house was purged of almost all personal belongings. It looks empty and spacious. I decided to take my own photos so that I would have them for memories. There are a lot of pics so scroll through the many posts below if you want to see them. If you are in the market for a house in the Johnstown area, I can send you more info. Our house is a Cabernet model in the Pioneer Ridge community.

BTW, we have a full unfinished basement but I couldn't bring myself to take photos. It is loaded with all the things that the realtor told me to get rid of for showings (which seemed like everything!).

The kitchen

The hallway to the front door

The hallway from the kitchen to the laundry, 1/2 bath and craft room/office

1/2 bath

2011-04-14T11:21:00.003-04:00

Laundry Room/Craft Room

2011-04-14T11:20:00.004-04:00

Laundry room (door leads out to the garage)
Notice the kegerator next to the washer? Clayton loves pouring beer for himself everyday, lol.

Utility sink in laundry room

Craft room/Office

Living Room/Formal Dining Room

2011-04-14T11:17:00.007-04:00

The living room (play area/loft above)

Formal dining room

Foyer/Master Bedroom

2011-04-14T11:15:00.003-04:00

Front door (formal dining room is to the left)

Stairs to second level

Master Bedroom is right at the top of the stair w/ double doors

Master Bathroom

2011-04-14T11:13:00.003-04:00

Master Bath entryway

BTW, sorry for the bad photography. I had to use the little camera because my big camera was dead.

Master Closet

2011-04-14T11:12:00.004-04:00

Master closet

Guest Bedroom/Boys' Bedroom

2011-04-14T11:11:00.003-04:00

The catwalk leading out from the master bedroom

Guest bedroom

The boys' room

My Chaotic World

Surrogacy journey #3 is underway!

Christmas 2011 (a tad bit late, lol)

Birthday Pancakes

New Rug and Curtains

Pantry Organization

Espresso Cabinet Frustration (For Brooke)

Miss Me?

I will be back soon!!!

Clear for take-off!

Almost there...

Ahhhh, those floors---*Swoon*

Our Combination of Color Choices, Sod, Guest Bath

Master Bath

12 Wonderful Years

Flooring is going in today!!

Argh....

Flooring Update

Flooring Woes

Going Stir Crazy

Drive By [12.6.11]-Almost Done!!

December 1st-Traditions, New and Old

Drive By [12.4.11]

Our House

The Scarboro---A beautiful house at Sugar Mountain

More Mountain Pics

Tray Ceilings, Race Cars, and Tequila?

Our Future Mortgage---A Phenomenal Rate!

Tile Work Preview

Hubby's Birthday Dinner [11/26/11]

Kitchen Cabinets

Drive By {11.27.11}---Stone is complete!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Emerson playing at Grandma's [11.13.11]

Rock and Roll [11.22.11]

Driveway and Drywall [11.20.11]

Drive by [11/17/11]

Ahhhh, the views!!

Emerson's 7th Birthday [11.8.11]

Drive By [11.12.11]

Awesome News :) :) :)

This Boy...

Drive By [11.7.11]

House Updates

Drive by [11/2/11]

Halloween 2011

Drive-by [11.1.11]

Moving Right Along [10.31.11]

Drive-by [10.31.11]

Well, Lookie Here... [10/28/11]

Drive-by [10.27.11]

Drive-by [10.27.11]-part 2

Drive By-10/26/11

House Options

House Options-Part 2

Sunday Drive-By----10/23/11

Sunday---continued

Surrogacy #3 Update

Scentsy

Drive-by-----10/21/11

Development

Our Future Home [10.11.11]

More Lot Pics

So I have a concussion...

Franken-Hayden (10/13/11)

SOLD!!!!

Lake Day-9/10/2011

New Belgium Brewing Company-Fort Collins, CO

New Belgium-Part 2

Planet Box

Wildcat Night at the Local Skating Rink

These Floors---*Swoon*

So far...

Progress, maybe...

Chimney Rock, NC

Chimney Rock, NC-continued

Random pics from the end of April

Finally Back Online!

Father's Day Weekend-2011

Walking home after school (Colorado)

Ahhhh, those floors---Swoon

These Floors---Swoon